"Is Lily dumping her work on you, Emily?”

Even with his thick eyebrows furrowed and frown lines appearing on his forehead, Cole looks sinfully gorgeous. I drink in the sight of his rich brown eyes, his prominent cheekbones, and his thick, messy dark hair.

But aside from his obvious hotness, he’s also known for being strict and demanding. And now that he’s frowning at the stack of papers on Lily’s desk in front of me, it seems like I’m his next target.

He’s been kind to me so far, and I think it’s because I’m the new girl. But after six months of working in this office, maybe that’s no longer a good excuse.

"Oh, no. No, it's not like that at all.” I say, trying and failing to keep my nerves under wraps. "She has to pick up her daughter from the daycare early, so she couldn't stay behind to finish scheduling all your appointments for next week.”

"Still," he says, lines still etched in his forehead and the bridge of his nose. "She’s not supposed to make you do her work for her. I’ll have to talk to her about this. She should really manage her time better.”

"Really, there's no need. I don't mind at all. If anything, I was the one who insisted on doing this for her.“ I nervously clasp my hands together under the desk. Considering Cole’s ruthless reputation, “a talk” could very possibly mean Lily losing her job. “I have to work on the presentation anyway. For the conference.”

“Isn’t that Steffi’s work?” He sighs, the lines in his face becoming deeper. “You need to stop worrying about other people. You're too nice and they’re taking advantage of you.”

"No, it's really not like that. I’m learning a lot from preparing this presentation. I want to do this,” I say.

Cole isn’t wrong. Steffi has been piling more and more work on me, work that she should be doing herself. But I also am really glad for the learning opportunity.

“And since I’m here anyway, it’s easy enough for me to tie up a few loose ends in your schedule.“ I place both palms on the desk and push to get on my feet. "Please, Cole, I don't want to get Lily in trouble. It was my idea.“

As a single mother, she already has too many problems, I think to myself.

I don’t bother telling Cole that detail. I don’t think it would make any difference to him, since he’s generally unsympathetic to people letting personal life get in the way of work.

“Alright, if you say so,” he says. He lets out another big sigh, like it physically pains him to let me “win” this. He picks up a folder from the desk and flips through its pages.

I breathe a sigh of relief and sit back down in Lily’s chair. She’s a friend and I wouldn’t want to make her life harder just because of my carelessness.

“So…you’re going home soon?” It’s getting awkward with him standing there not saying anything while I’m trying to work.

“Why do you ask?” Cole raises his gaze, peering at me over the top of the wide-open folder.

“I… Just making conversation,” I say lamely. Something about the way he’s looking at me gets me so flustered I find myself unable come up with something better.

“Oh. Too bad,” he says. Most of his face is covered by the manila folder as he reviews the documents inside, his fingers skimming the edges of the stiff paper. I can’t help but wonder how those same fingers would feel roaming all over my body.

“What do you mean?” I take the bait.

“I thought maybe you wanted to join me,” he says, raising one thick eyebrow at me. He shuts the folder, trapping it between his masculine hands. He grins, his lips upturned, revealing the dimples in his cheeks. Keeping his teasing gaze firmly on my reddening face, he continues, “Well, if there’s nothing else and you’re not actually coming home with me, I am going home.”

“Uh… Okay.” I rack my brain for something normal to say in this situation, but how am I supposed to respond to Cole Foster asking me to go home with him? I mean, not that he could possibly mean it…

“Good night, Emily,” he says, taking the folder with him as he turns around and heads to the elevator.

“Good night, Cole,” I say to his back.

I watch his tall figure grow smaller as he walks away. Damn, my boss has a nice ass.

The Armani suit hugs his frame perfectly, showing off his broad shoulders, lean body, and impossibly long legs. I’m told women just throw themselves at him, and I can’t say I blame them. I watch as he disappears into the elevator, leaving me alone in the big, quiet, open-space office.

When I first saw him at the interview, I thought he was a mid-level manager because of how young he seemed. The designer suit should’ve given it away. But it didn’t occur to me that the guy interviewing me for an entry-level position was a CEO — albeit a micro-managing one.

If I had bothered to read some business magazines beforehand, I would’ve recognized him from the get-go. It seemed strange to me that he was only in his twenties and yet already so successful.

Then I learned about his family and it all made sense. Let’s just say that multiple members of his extended family have appeared in articles like Top 100 Wealthiest Americans or Owners of San Fransisco’s Most Expensive Homes.

So he comes from money. Old money. How nice.

I sigh and look up at the computer screen. I’m almost done with the research portion of this presentation. I just need to gather all the information in one file, organize it into separate sections based on which PowerPoint slides they correspond to, and email the file to Steffi.

While I save my work to a flash drive, I grab my new iPhone and press the button to turn on the display. Besides some new clothes, this phone is one of the first things I bought with my salary.

Yes, I am saving up to move out of Alice’s apartment. But after everything I’ve been through, I feel like I deserve to splurge on something. Plus, my old phone was so slow the screen was frozen half the time.

Now, according to my new awesome phone, it’s already eight.

I haven’t eaten anything since lunch. I should probably head home now and finish up tomorrow.

As usual, there are a few notifications from the chat app. I bet they’re all worried messages from Alice. I tap the app icon and — what do you know — I’m right.

Alice Webb: Em, where are you?

Alice Webb: Still at work?

Alice Webb: Overtime again?

Alice Webb: They better be paying you REALLY well

I smile to myself. I get these messages every work night, but my sister’s excessive worry still hasn’t failed to amuse me.

Emily Webb: Coming home soon

Placing my phone on Lily’s desk, I grab my bag and stuff my things inside. Wallet, keys, flash drive.

Maybe if I have some time after dinner I can continue working on the presentation on Alice’s computer.

I glance at the phone, watching as Alice’s messages come through.

Alice Webb: It’s late

Alice Webb: Damn that boss of yours

Alice Webb: One of these days you should lick his ass

I frown for a second, confused. I re-read the last message and burst out in laughter, my voice echoing in the big, empty space that is the office at night.

That is the best autocorrect typo ever!

Alice doesn’t seem to have noticed. She would’ve corrected it if she had.  

Emily Webb: LMAO

Emily Webb: I had no idea you were so kinky

Alice Webb: OMG

Alice Webb: KICK!!!

Alice Webb: KICK his ass

Emily Webb: Come on Alice

Emily Webb: We both know why your phone went with lick instead

Emily Webb: You type that phrase “lick his ass” all the time, huh?

Emily Webb: Freudian slip

Still grinning, I pick my bag up and walk past the rows of desks toward the elevator.

Alice Webb: Very funny

Alice Webb: Just come home

Emily Webb: Hey, I don’t judge

Emily Webb: You do you

I drop the phone in my bag with a smirk on my face. Alice is probably not going to reply anymore, now that I’ve successfully annoyed her.

This is nice, I think to myself as I step inside the elevator.

I’ve gotten a lot of things done today. Finished presentation research, helped Lily keep her job, and even laughed with Alice, just like old times.

My life is finally starting to look normal again.

As the elevator takes me from the 30^th floor down to the lobby, I watch the red LED numbers in the display count down. The smaller the floor number, the more blurry it gets. I realize my eyes have filled with water and a knot has formed in my throat. Thinking about how far I’ve come always gets me all sappy.

I carefully dab at the corners of my eyes so I don’t ruin my make-up. I blink a few times and take a deep breath just as the elevator door opens. Stepping out into the lobby of the building, I hear the familiar chat app notification alerts and fish my phone out of the bag.  

“Good night, Andy,” I say, holding the phone in my hand.

Andy is one of the two young security guards who are always stuck with the night shift. Working late as often as I do, I’m on a first-name basis with both guards now.

“Night, Emily,” he says with a friendly smile. “You take care now.”

“You too!”

I walk past the automatic sliding glass doors and breathe in the San Fransisco air, nice and warm even in the fall. It’s actually almost warmer now than it was in the summer.

While making my way to the bus stop, I check Alice’s last messages.

Alice Webb: Actually it wouldn’t be such a bad idea for you to lick someone’s ass if that’s what you’re into

Alice Webb: lol

Alice Webb: It’s been too long

I sigh. Here we go again.

She makes bad jokes all the time. As much as I hate them, I can’t bring myself to tell her because she tries so hard. And that’s not even the worst problem with her message.

I know Alice means well, but there’s only so much nagging I can take. I drop the phone back in my bag.

She’s gone so far as to arrange blind dates for me, as soon as I got this job. It’s like she has some sort of a to-do list.

Find Em a job. Tick.

Next on the list: Find Em a man.

I went the first three times because she had gone through so much trouble arranging those meetings for me, but I just lost interest after the third dull stranger.

Seriously, she acts more like an overbearing mom or a nosey aunt than a sister sometimes. She needs to get a life of her own.

It’s not that she’s completely wrong. It has been a while.

But what can I say? I just don’t feel like getting on Tinder and trying to force a connection with strangers. I may be only twenty-five, but I already feel too old for that nonsense.

I believe it’ll happen when it happens. And if it doesn’t happen, well, unlike Alice, I’m okay with that too.